Day: November 27, 2024

Bill’s time: 9m 53s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

5 Member of an 1800s literary family : ANNE

Anne was the youngest of the three sisters in the literary Brontë family. Her older sisters wrote novels that are more recognized, but Anne’s two novels do have a following. “Agnes Grey” is based on her own experiences working as a governess. Her other novel, “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” is written as a long letter from a young man describing the events leading up to his first meeting with his wife-to-be. Anne Brontë’s writing career was cut short in 1849, when she died of pulmonary tuberculosis, at only 29 years of age.

14 “Justice League of America,” e.g. : COMIC BOOK

The Justice League is a team of superheroes in the DC Comics universe. The team first appeared in 1960, as the Justice League of America. Membership of the league changed over the years, but the original lineup was:

• Aquaman
• Batman
• The Flash
• Green Lantern
• Martian Manhunter
• Superman
• Wonder Woman

16 Possesses a certain je ne sais quoi : HAS IT

“Je ne sais quoi” is French for “I don’t know what”.

17 Member of an 1800s literary family : CHARLOTTE

Charlotte Brontë was the eldest of the three Brontë sister authors. Her most famous work is the novel “Jane Eyre”, which she published under the pen name Currer Bell. The pen name veiled her gender, but preserved the initials of her real name. After “Jane Eyre” was published, Brontë started to move in the same circles as other successful novelists of the day, including William Makepeace Thackeray and Elizabeth Gaskell. Just two years after Bronte died in her late thirties, it was Gaskell who published the first biography of Charlotte Brontë.

18 Member of an 1800s literary family : EMILY

In terms of age, Emily Brontë was the middle of the three Brontë sisters, younger than Charlotte and older than Anne. Emily was a poet and a novelist, and is best remembered for her only novel, “Wuthering Heights”. Emily died very young, at 30 years old. She never recovered from a severe cold that she caught at the funeral service of Branwell Brontë, her only brother. The cold developed into tuberculosis, for which she eschewed medical attention. She passed away after three months of illness.

22 Part of I.P.A. : PALE

India pale ale (IPA) is a style of beer that originated in England. The beer was originally intended for transportation from England to India, hence the name.

24 Pump selection: Abbr. : REG

The gas pump was actually around before there were cars on the road. The first gas pump was the invention of one Sylvanus Bowser from Fort Wayne, Indiana. His first pump was designed to pump kerosene for lamps and stoves, and was introduced in 1885. As automobiles became popular, he modified the design to pump gasoline. He introduced the Self-Measuring Gasoline Storage Pump in 1905. He marketed his devices all around the world, and in some parts the name “bowser” is still used sometimes to refer to fuel pumps, and indeed some fuel tankers.

26 @@@ : ATS

The “at symbol” (@) originated in the commercial world, as shorthand for “each at, per” and similar phrases. I suppose we see the symbol most commonly these days as part of email addresses.

28 Rose Bowl city : PASADENA

The Rose Bowl is the stadium in Pasadena, California that is home to the UCLA football team. It is also host to the Rose Bowl football game held annually on New Year’s Day.

37 Symbols of longevity in Chinese iconography : TORTOISES

The external shell of a tortoise is actually fused to the creature’s ribcage. Tortoises often have long lives. The oldest recorded age for a tortoise is 188 years.

39 Corn, beans and squash, in Mesoamerican tradition … or a hint to six answers in this puzzle : THE THREE SISTERS

Mesoamerica is a region extending from Central Mexico, south to Costa Rica. It is known as an area where societies flourished prior to the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries.

42 Home to horned vipers and deathstalker scorpions : THE SAHARA

The name “Sahara” means “desert” in Arabic. The Sahara is just that, a great desert covering almost 4 million square miles of Northern Africa. That’s almost the size of the United States.

45 Member of a 2000s showbiz family : KOURTNEY

Kourtney Kardashian is a media personality who was able to parlay her appearances on the reality show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” into spin-off shows such as “Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami” and “Kourtney and Kim Take New York.”

48 ___ Quentin, Calif. : SAN

The small town of San Quentin, California has a population of only a hundred people or so. It is located by the San Quentin State Prison, and was originally housing for the staff working in the prison and for their families.

49 Meditative discipline : ZEN

Zen is a Buddhist school that developed its own tradition in China back in the 7th century AD. “Zen” is a Japanese spelling of the Chinese word “chan”, which in turn derives from the Sanskrit word “dhyana” meaning “meditation”.

50 Member of a 2000s showbiz family : KIM

Kim Kardashian is a socialite and television personality. She was introduced into society by her friend, Paris Hilton. Kardashian’s name first hit the headlines when a homemade sex tape, made by her and singer Ray J, was leaked.

59 Singer known as the “Queen of Tejano Music” : SELENA

Singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, known professionally simply as “Selena”, was murdered in 1995 by the president of her own fan club at the height of her career. In a 1997 biopic about Selena’s life, Jennifer Lopez played the title role. Selena had often been referred to as the “Queen of Tejano” during her career.

“Tejano” is the Spanish word for “Texan”. Tejano music is strongly influenced by Cajun culture, because of the proximity of Texas to Louisiana. The other strong influence came with immigrants from Poland and what is now the Czech Republic. These immigrants brought with them the waltz, polka … and the accordion.

61 Member of a 2000s showbiz family : KHLOE

Khloé Kardashian, sister of Kim, managed to parlay her exposure on the reality show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” into spin-offs called “Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami” and “Khloé & Lamar”.

65 In an online convo, perhaps : IM’ING

Convo (conversation)

66 Clever person : BEL ESPRIT

“Bel esprit” is French for “high mind”, and we use it to mean someone who is cultivated and highly intelligent, or perhaps someone who is witty. The plural of “bel esprit” is “beaux esprits”.

67 Universal donor’s classification : TYPE-O

In general, a person with type O-negative blood is a universal donor, meaning that his or her blood can be used for transfusion into persons with any other blood type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive (although there are other considerations). Also in general, a person with type AB-positive blood is a universal recipient, meaning that he or she can receive a transfusion of blood of any type: A, B, AB or O, negative or positive.

68 Flexible Flyer, for one : SLED

“Flexible flyer” is now a generic term for a steel-runner sled that can be steered with the feet. The original Flexible Flyer was patented in 1889.

Down

1 African city that’s home to the W.E.B. Du Bois Centre : ACCRA

Accra sits on Ghana’s coast and is a major seaport as well as the country’s capital city. The name “Accra” comes from a local word “Nkran” meaning “ants”, a name chosen because of the large number of anthills found in the area when the city was founded.

W. E. B. Du Bois was a sociologist and civil rights activist from Massachusetts. Du Bois was the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard, and went on to become a professor at Atlanta University. In 1909, he was a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

2 Poet Leonard : COHEN

I’ve never been a big fan of the music of Canadian singer Leonard Cohen (don’t all yell at me at the same time!). That said, his 1984 song “Hallelujah” is superb, and I particularly like the version recorded by Jeff Buckley in 1994. Then again, “Suzanne” is pretty special too. Just ignore me …

4 Gaelic homeland : EIRE

“Éire” is the Irish name for Ireland, coming from “Ériu”. Ériu was the matron goddess of Ireland in Irish mythology.

9 Fidel’s longtime lieutenant : CHE

Ernesto “Che” Guevara was born in Argentina, and in 1948 he started to study medicine at the University of Buenos Aires. While at school he satisfied his need to “see the world” by taking two long journeys around South America, the stories of which are told in Guevara’s memoir later published as “The Motorcycle Diaries”. While traveling, Guevara was moved by the plight of the people he saw and their working conditions and what he viewed as capitalistic exploitation. In Mexico City he met brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and was persuaded to join their cause, the overthrow of the US-backed government in Cuba. He rose to second-in-command among the Cuban insurgents, and when Castro came to power Guevara was influential in repelling the Bay of Pigs Invasion and bringing Soviet nuclear missiles to the island. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to continue his work as a revolutionary. He was captured by Bolivian forces in 1967, and was executed. Fidel Castro led the public mourning of Guevara’s death, and soon the revolutionary was an icon for many left-wing movements around the world.

11 Home of the highest and lowest points on the earth’s surface : ASIA

The highest and lowest points on Earth (on land) are both in Asia. The highest is the summit of Mount Everest, and the lowest are the shores of the Dead Sea.

12 Party pooper : PILL

The term “pill” can be used to describe a boring and disagreeable person, a “bitter pill to swallow”.

13 Eye malady : STYE

A stye is a bacterial infection of the sebaceous glands at the base of the eyelashes, and is also known as a hordeolum.

15 Composer Schumann : CLARA

Clara Schumann was a famous concert pianist, and the wife of composer Robert Schumann. Clara is known not only for her talent on the piano, but also for premiering works by Johannes Brahms, who was a dear friend of the Schumanns.

21 Final two words of “Over the Rainbow” : … CAN’T I?

“Over the Rainbow” is a classic song written especially for the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”. It was sung by the young Judy Garland (Dorothy) in the film, and it was to become her signature song. There is an introductory verse that wasn’t used in the movie, and is very rarely heard:

When all the world is a hopeless jumble
And the raindrops tumble all around,
Heaven opens a magic lane
When all the clouds darken up the skyway,
There’s a rainbow highway to be found
Leading from your window pane
To a place behind the sun,
Just a step beyond the rain.

25 Patisserie purchase : GATEAU

A patisserie is a French bakery that sells pastries, or “tartes”.

27 Southwest ski resort with lifts up to 12,450 feet : TAOS

Taos Ski Valley is a resort village in New Mexico, founded in 1955. About twelve families live there, making up thirty or so households and a population of about 60 people. It is said to very much resemble a Swiss village, and even includes an elected village council.

29 Pulitzer-winning novelist Anthony : DOERR

American author Anthony Doerr won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his 2014 novel “All the Light We Cannot See”. The book is all about a blind French girl and a German boy who meet in occupied France during WWII.

30 Fake : ERSATZ

Something described as ersatz is a copy, and usually not a good one. “Ersatz” comes from the German verb “ersetzen” meaning “to replace”.

32 Michael who played Allan in “Barbie” : CERA

Michael Cera is a Canadian actor who played great characters on the TV show “Arrested Development”, and in the 2007 comedy-drama “Juno”. Cera is also quite the musician. He released an indie folk album titled “True That” in 2014.

The 2023 fantasy comedy movie “Barbie” stars Margo Robbie in the title role and Ryan Gosling as Ken. It was directed by Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the script with her partner Noah Baumbach. I highly recommend this one …

33 Home to Leningrad, for short : USSR

St. Petersburg in Russia is an absolutely beautiful city to visit. The city was renamed to Petrograd in 1914, Leningrad in 1924 and back to St. Petersburg in 1991.

34 Link prefix : HTTP

“http” are the first letters in many Internet links. “http” stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. More secure and “safer” websites (like this one!) use links starting with “https”, which stands for “http secure”.

36 Hammer’s end : PEEN

The peen of a hammer is on the head, and is the side of the head that is opposite the striking surface. Often the peen is in the shape of a hemisphere (as in a ball-peen hammer), but usually it is shaped like a claw (mainly for removing nails).

40 Maori ceremonial dance : HAKA

The haka is a war dance used by the Maori people of New Zealand. Famously, the New Zealand rugby team performs a haka before each of their matches.

41 River that provides the largest inflow into the Mediterranean : RHONE

The Rhône river rises in Switzerland, passes through Lake Geneva, flows through the southeast of France, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea near Arles.

47 Celebrity gossip show : E! NEWS

E! Entertainment Television started out in 1987 as Movietime, and hired on-air hosts such as Greg Kinnear and Paula Abdul. It was renamed in 1990 to E! Entertainment Television, underscoring the focus on Hollywood gossip and the like.

48 14-pound unit : STONE

We used pounds and stones in Ireland as units of mass/weight, for all my life there. However, such measures no longer have any “official” status in the country, as the Irish made the conversion to the metric system. Having said that, many folks still tend to measure body weight in stones and pounds. One stone is equal to fourteen pounds.

50 Former presidential candidate who served as Biden’s climate envoy : KERRY

Secretary of State John Kerry enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1966 and went straight into Officer Candidate School. Kerry’s first post was as an ensign on a frigate in the Vietnam theater, mainly working on rescue missions picking up downed pilots. He requested a transfer to Swift boat duty. While serving on Swift boats Kerry was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

64 Flamenco cry : OLE!

Flamenco is a style of Spanish music and dance. The origin of the word “flamenco” isn’t clearly understood, but the explanation that seems most credible to me is that it comes from Flanders in Northern Europe. Given that “flamenco” is the Spanish word for “Flemish” and Flanders is home to the Flemish people it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?